Nine Hampshire County communities are getting more than $6.7 million in state funding to tear down aging dams, restore wetlands and turn old schools into emergency shelters as the region braces for more extreme weather.
The awards are a slice of the $45 million allocated through the Environmental and Climate (ECO) One Stop grant program, a new initiative that streamlines seven different climate resilience-related grants into one application process.
In the pilot round, 97 projects received funding from programs like Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Action, Dam & Seawall Repair or Removal and Planning Assistance. Regardless of scope or award size, each of the projects gets Northampton, Amherst, Belchertown, South Hadley, Cummington, Southampton, Hatfield, Goshen and Shutesbury one step closer to meeting the needs of their communities in an ever-changing climate.
“Every community has projects that can make neighborhoods safer, healthier, and more resilient to climate change, and local leaders know where those investments are needed most,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said.
Most of the projects awarded in Hampshire County relate to flood resilience or dam removals.
Northampton golf course restoration
Northampton is getting $2.8 million to finish restoration efforts at the Pine Grove Conservation Area, where the city is turning a former golf course it bought in 2020 into a self-sustaining, climate resilient wetland.
After completing the first phase earlier this summer, the city is using this new grant to remove a dam in the area, create a one-mile accessible walking loop and reforest the land with climate adaptive trees.
“We really focused on the things that needed undoing,” said Sarah LaValley, assistant director of the Northampton Office of Planning and Sustainability. “It took a lot to create this golf course and recreational facility, so it takes a lot to turn it back into a wetlands.”
LaValley said officials had initially considered removing the dam first, but the permitting process and a culvert collapse over Old Wilson Road rearranged her priorities.
Instead, she worked with the state Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) and Mass Audubon to complete tasks that did not require permitting, like removing artificial drainage, repairing a pedestrian bridge and adding vernal pools.
Now, with the permits in hand, LaValley said the city can finally extract the manmade structure and move the dam crossing upstream. With all the drainage from the course removed in a previous phase, including hundreds of tons of construction stone at the bottom of the stream, the water will be able to flow unrestricted in its natural path.
This construction stone will become the basis of the mile trail for residents to explore the new beaver pond, flowing stream and new tree species. Unlike the last round of planting, these vegetation species have not arrived in Northampton, but are predicted to thrive in the warming weather, LaValley said.
“It’s a site in movement,” she continued. “It’s growing and changing and things will change over time.”
South Hadley to remove dam
Similarly, South Hadley plans to use the $1.63 million it received to remove the Queensville Dam and revert Titus Pond back into wetlands. Located in a residential area near Newton Street, the Titus Pond Conservation Area will hold more stormwater as a wetland.
“Although it will no longer be a pond, it will always have water running through it, which creates a diverse environment for insects and wildlife in an urbanized part of South Hadley,” Rebekah Cornell, the town’s conservation administrator/planner, said in an email.
The project has been in the making since 2018 when inspections revealed the dam was in poor condition and required $175,000 to repair. Between the cost of upkeep and regular algae blooms during warm months, South Hadley opted to tear down the dam and its possible liability.
The changes to Titus Pond create ecological flood control by adding meanders, dips and wetland plants. Next summer, the town will lead volunteers efforts to arrange branches, trees and roots into flood-managing structures. Any runoff will go into green stormwater infrastructure like rainwater gardens, Cornell said.
Three previous MVP grants provide the funds to study the dam and apply for permits. Construction for the project will start in spring of 2027 and finish in June 2028.
Belchertown community center
Other projects, however, look to prepare people for extreme weather. Belchertown received $1 million to turn the old Tadgell School into a community center and emergency refuge.
The multipurpose space will include flexible business suites, a market pantry, program rooms, health and counseling offices, and an emergency center with showers or audio equipment. These varied uses of Tadgell will not only fill multiple community gaps, but also ensure the project is eligible for future grant funding, Select Board member Lesa Lessard Pearson said.
“This [MVP] grant was born out of climate-related and environmental concerns,” Pearson said. “So I would imagine what we would need to do is stay very close to their mission and become a true partner in what the funder wants to accomplish and at the same time, what we want to accomplish as a community.”
Belchertown residents have been clamoring for a community center for several years. Physical meeting spaces remain one of the biggest challenges for municipal boards, volunteer organizations and nonprofits, limiting programs and community involvement.
While Belchertown has plenty of older buildings, renovation costs limit the possibilities. When Kuhn Riddle Architects presented the Select Board with a schematic design to turn the old Tadgell School building into a community center and resilience hub in June, the $24 million price tag immediately sucked the excitement out of the air.
“If we really want a community center in Belchertown, we have to look at what’s possible rather than what we wish for,” Pearson said.
The $1 million award is only the beginning, Pearson said. The town will continue to work with state partners to use this first investment as a catalyst for future funding. Pearson said the town intends to look for a combination of state, federal and utility-related grants to “make a community center not just a dream, but a reality.”
Cummington resilience hub
Cummington received $322,225 to continue turning the Berkshire Trail Elementary School into the Berkshire Trail Building Resilience Hub. Plans call for converting the old building into an emergency shelter, a regional food hub and climate-resilient landscaping including a floodway garden and native pollinator plantings.
The 75-year-old building, formerly the Cummington School that served the whole town, closed in 2015. The building, although solid and updated with a roof in 2016, needs updates to its heating and cooling system, as well as a sprinkler system and other infrastructure updates.
Other awards
The state also awarded Southampton nearly $250,000 to advance construction-ready design for a cooling and clean air center at the William E. Norris School and develop site-specific strategies to mitigate extreme heat and impacts associated with poor air quality.
The project will address a localized heat island at the school’s playground and athletic fields through a heat resilience landscape plan designed to incorporate nature-based solutions, including tree canopy expansion, installation of shaded infrastructure and evaluation of solar-integrated shade structures and hydration access.
Amherst and Shutesbury received $296,000 and $250,000, respectively, to fund preconstruction planning to repair the Fort River Watershed culvert and Lake Wyola Dam.
Hatfield, meanwhile, received $181,500 for a Municipal Facilities Flood Resilience and Relocation Master Plan that outlines ways to protect public facilities from increasing flood risk, while Goshen landed $45,500 to include climate resilience into its zoning bylaws.
